Archives For Group dynamics

If you want to know where Crew Resource Management as a discipline started, then you need to read NASA Technical Memorandum 78482 or “A Simulator Study of the Interaction of Pilot Workload With Errors, Vigilance, and Decisions” by H.P. Ruffel Smith, the British borne physician and pilot. Before this study it was hours in the seat and line seniority that mattered when things went to hell. After it the aviation industry started to realise that crews rose or fell on the basis of how well they worked together, and that a good captain got the best out of his team. Today whether crews get it right, as they did on QF72, or terribly wrong, as they did on AF447, the lens that we view their performance through has been irrevocably shaped by the work of Russel Smith. From little seeds great oaks grow indeed.

Instead people strive to create a view of it by establishing a common framework into which events can be fitted to makes sense of the world, what Weick (1993) calls a process of sensemaking. And what is true for individuals is also true for the organisations they make up. In return people also use an organisation to make sense of what’s going on, especially in situations of uncertainty, ambiguity or contradiction.

I’ve just finished up the working week with a day long Safety Conversations and Observations course conducted by Dr Robert Long of Human Dymensions. A good, actually very good, course with an excellent balance between the theory of risk psychology and the practicalities of successfully carrying out safety conversations. I’d recommend it to any organisation that’s seeking to take their safety culture beyond systems and paperwork. Although he’s not a great fan of engineers. 🙂

What I find interesting as a practicing engineer is that although every day debates and discussions with your peers emphasise the subjectivity of engineering ‘knowledge’ as engineers we all still like to pretend and behave as if it is not.

With a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering and a Master’s in Systems Engineering, Matthew Squair is a principal consultant with Jacobs Australia. His professional practice is the assurance of safety, software and cyber-security, and he writes, teaches and consults on these subjects. He can be contacted at mattsquair@gmail.com